Rick Stein, Winchester — Restaurant in Winchester

A mixed review. Read to end. This was my third visit to Stein's in Winchester. The other two experiences were good, nothing spectacular. This time there was some disappointment.

Food was generally good. My starter (can't remember it's name) was good. Sticky toffy pudding was delicious. Shellfish linguine was tasty but overly salty. And I like salty...really was on edge of extreme saltiness.

My main waitress was lovely in her manner. At times was hard to get staff's attention, took a while to ask for bill, get dessert menu. Ordinarily I'd have given the above experience 4 or 5 stars. But my major issue was...hygiene.

We chose a table after being offered a choice of two. The first thing I noticed was a very obvious grey/white smudge of dirt on my water glass as I sat down. I don't mean a water mark I mean solid muck. As the waitress came with water and filled my glass I mentioned it to her and she apologised. I then also noticed a substantial amount of crumbs on my brother's side plate. It was as if someone had been seated there just before us and the table had not been cleaned at all. I again mentioned this and she apologised and took the plate. They do free first try of shellfish for children so I requested that for my 11 year old brother. We got oysters in different varieties I believe as an apology...and as it was a birthday treat for my brother....however I also noticed crumbs on table, lots of finger marks on my side plate, and a long hair on water jug. I then discreetly told who I think was the manager about these issues, I didn't want to say all this to the waitress as she was very busy and seemed shy. I expected him to offer a new freshly laid table...no. Or perhaps some free dish. I am perhaps more sensitive as I have a contamination/hygiene OCD BUT I never normally see this time of poor cleanliness even at cheap cafes. As you might expect I was anxious having seen all this so not very communicative. I was thinking if they didn't check the glasses/plates/corners of table and saw the LARGE crumbs, probably the cutlery was laid on dirty table. Note the cutlery was not placed on napkins. When a waiter brough me a fork he also held it by end of the fork near the tines. Most waiting staff know to hold near the handle, he had probably touched money and dirty placed before this..

All in all I paid £120 for an anxiety trigger. I eat out a lot and never seem to experience such shoddy hygiene. Some training is in order. I didn't want to make a scene and embarrass my brother, but if alone I'd have not paid service charge at the very least. Shame as the staff themselves seemed genuinely warm. They just need to up their...

We arrived early for our late lunch reservation and waited in the bar area. Restaurant atmosphere is nice and the benches have thick throw pillows. Staff was pleasant, helpful and efficient. Bathrooms were nice and had lovely scented hand lotion.

The menu was one long page but no specials or catch of the day which is odd for a seafood restaurant. Another thing I noticed is that unlike almost all menus today, they did not note items that were gluten free, dairy free, etc. Unless it states otherwise for a particular entree, the meals do not come with sides.

For appetizers we had the sashimi and fish cakes. My spouse loved the fish cakes but my sashimi left something to be desired. The tuna had iridescence on it which is a sign that it’s it not good quality. It was also very pale which isn’t a sign of sashimi quality. There was no soy sauce but rather a light brownish liquid that had zero flavor. No fresh ginger only the pre-packed cheap orange stuff you get in the grocery store. No wasabi. The rest of the sashimi wasn’t bad but not the best quality. It didn’t taste fishy which is good but it wasn’t anything special. If you want good sushi, go elsewhere (Kyoto for example) but this isn’t the place for it.

For our entrees we had the Indonesian seafood curry and the steamed sea bass. The Indonesian curry was supposed to come with pilau rice but instead came with white steamed rice with what looked like pork cracklings. It also came with greens beans that had shredded coconut and hot peppers.

The curry sauce was more like a spicy butternut squash soup and was very tasty but watery. The sea bass was excellent quality and the skin came off easily. There were large shrimp as well which were good. I’d definitely recommend this dish. My spouse thought the spicy sauce that came with the steamed sea bass was tasty. No sides came with that one.

I had the cosmo drink special which was made with grapefruit Belvedere vodka. It was difficult to drink to be honest. Not a good blend of flavors and it was heavy on the inferior vodka. I had to add sparkling water to make it drinkable. My husband’s white wine was fine but nothing great. They do serve a large portion — more like a double than a single — so be prepared to have someone else drive if you drink more than one.

Nothing special was done for Valentine’s Day. No chocolate pieces at the end of the meal like many restaurants do on a regular day. No candles on the tables, no flowers on the tables. Kind of...

Visited, without a booking, on a Saturday afternoon (2.30). Greeted really well and made to feel welcome by the maitre'd. "Come and enjoy some time with us" was an expected and lovely things to say as he lead us to a table. The staff are knowledgeable, very pleasant & helpful. The decor is really nice, a mirrored wall allows all customers to have a 'view' no matter which way they face (other restaurants placing customers with a view of a wall less than a few feet away take note). The open kitchen is a delightful feature for customers to enjoy and added to the experience. For mid-afternoon, the restaurant was busy, but by no means full (a lot of covers to fill), had a good atmosphere and felt like a place-to-be. The wait between placing our order and our meals being brought to us, was long enough for most of our bottle of wine to be sipped away ... as it was, we noticed for many other customers. It seemd, watching the open kitchen, as if the entire team of chef's was focused on cooking for one table at a time. It took almost an hour. If it wasn't a ridiculous thought, we'd say it was a ploy to sell more wine! (It wasn't, but service was (is?) very slow so build that into your visit time especially if it's busy. When it did arrive, the meals were very nicely presented, flavoursome and plentiful. We had battered cod with chips and minted peas, and a whole lobster with chips. At £34 we thought the lobster was good value. All of the ingredeints were good quality. Wine is not a wide choice and mostly, expensive for the offer. The 'discretionary' service charge is 12.5% which on a bill over £100 is heavy and in our view, should be added BEFORE the cost of drinks are included, leaving customers to decide if this unnecessary extra should be given. Drinks add a disproportionate amount to service charges. (Many restaurants should take note and act). Overall, this is a very nice restaurant, pricey, but worth a visit (more than once if you are local). Value for money we give it 7/10.

(Photos: From website - they are accurate representations of reality, mine and one from...